Report: Downtown can support 20,000-square-foot grocery store

Downtown San Antonio can support a 20,000-square-foot grocery store today, according to a city-commissioned report by national consultants HR&A Advisors.

The report hasn’t been made public, but its key findings were cited in another report the city paid for on the need for student housing development downtown (I will detail that one in another post).

“We do believe there is a demand for a 20,000-square-foot store,” said Lori Houston, director of the Center City Development Office.

The best location for the store would be on the south end of downtown, near HemisFair, La Villita and Southtown, says the student housing report, by Keyser Marston Associates, Inc.

It also states that the city is “actively working to recruit a grocery store to downtown,” which is not news. In 2011, the City Council approved a $1 million incentive for any grocery store company willing to building a store downtown.

Houston said the Center City San Antonio Supermarket Study is still in a draft state, and did not give a timetable for when it will be completed. I’ll post it here as soon as it’s done.